This chapter presents data on earnings and labour costs of employees compiled from the Earnings, Hours and Employment Costs Survey (EHECS). The EHECS survey has been conducted since Quarter 1 2008, providing short-term trends of earnings and labour costs in the economy. These trends are published in the Earnings and Labour Costs Quarterly release while annual totals and averages are published in the Earnings and Labour Costs Annual release.
In this chapter, average earnings and hours worked are broken down by NACE economic sector for Q4 2017 and Q4 2018 in table 19.1. Average annual earnings and its components are broken down by NACE economic sector for 2017 and 2018 in table 19.2. The total cost of employing labour from 2013 to 2018 is illustrated in table 19.3.
| Average Weekly Earnings Q4 2017 | Average Weekly Earnings Q4 2018 | |
| Industry | 882.56 | 899.52 |
| Construction | 750.64 | 800.5 |
| Wholesale & Retail | 582.99 | 594.03 |
| Transportation | 781.47 | 844.46 |
| Accommodation & Food | 346.64 | 354.96 |
| Information & Comm. | 1113.04 | 1168.5 |
| Financial Activities | 1043.03 | 1102.87 |
| Professional Activities | 916.65 | 924.87 |
| Administrative Activities | 547.52 | 597.85 |
| Public Admin. & Defence | 943.25 | 953 |
| Education | 838.91 | 855.3 |
| Health & Social | 703.46 | 723.39 |
| Arts & Entertainment | 477.59 | 496.83 |
| All sectors | 731.86 | 757.21 |
| Average Weekly Earnings Q4 2017 | Average Weekly Earnings Q4 2018 | |
| Industry | 882.56 | 899.52 |
| Construction | 750.64 | 800.5 |
| Wholesale & Retail | 582.99 | 594.03 |
| Transportation | 781.47 | 844.46 |
| Accommodation & Food | 346.64 | 354.96 |
| Information & Comm. | 1113.04 | 1168.5 |
| Financial Activities | 1043.03 | 1102.87 |
| Professional Activities | 916.65 | 924.87 |
| Administrative Activities | 547.52 | 597.85 |
| Public Admin. & Defence | 943.25 | 953 |
| Education | 838.91 | 855.3 |
| Health & Social | 703.46 | 723.39 |
| Arts & Entertainment | 477.59 | 496.83 |
| All sectors | 731.86 | 757.21 |
Average weekly earnings increased 3.5% to €757.21 in Q4 2018. Average weekly earnings of the main economic sectors in Q4 2018 ranged from a high of €1,168.50 in the Information and communication sector to a low of €354.96 in the Accommodation and food service activities sector. The Administrative and support services sector experienced the largest annual increase to Q4 2018, rising 9.2% from €547.52 to €597.85. The Professional, scientific and technical activities sector saw the smallest increase (+€8.22) in the year from Q4 2017 to Q4 2018, rising from €916.65 to €924.87.
Interactive table: StatBank link
Link to release: Earnings and Labour Costs Quarterly
| Irregular Earnings 2017 | Overtime Earnings 2017 | Regular Earnings 2017 | Irregular Earnings 2018 | Overtime Earnings 2018 | Regular Earnings 2018 | |
| Industry | 2911.26609487239 | 2427.4771254987 | 39872.2004954423 | 2991.71044162271 | 2439.65708406879 | 40967.1325898564 |
| Construction | 878.033214235121 | 1623.48889386871 | 35889.1274171809 | 899.58168298976 | 1832.39037865807 | 37828.862092367 |
| Wholesale & Retail | 1619.36663738967 | 644.528646212773 | 27051.9449668777 | 1738.96130526284 | 669.544630151939 | 27482.2815204195 |
| Transportation | 1959.65588174878 | 1494.82066709026 | 36757.2114363821 | 2304.70643173472 | 1561.21072812773 | 38282.2746129821 |
| Accommodation & Food | 427.882230154331 | 215.714393989107 | 16964.6071198002 | 493.379526954432 | 197.210395331908 | 17570.9904310433 |
| Information & Comm | 6935.40087551509 | 408.008208850909 | 49414.4545408842 | 9006.57922370066 | 375.785988269029 | 51887.0718365967 |
| Financial & Real Estate | 4599.87835382316 | 578.440336854236 | 50509.134735827 | 5433.3449697531 | 559.94022445596 | 52585.0880517549 |
| Professional & Technical | 2922.77049690303 | 330.02335522599 | 43024.5108648607 | 3362.06939539552 | 398.327906102563 | 43870.7951587216 |
| Admin & Support Service | 1715.09457407514 | 592.617896557205 | 26182.154433253 | 1921.73283878849 | 713.952127245662 | 26987.7365005329 |
| Public Admin & Defence | 2287.04677735897 | 2048.56878080499 | 44571.2711232914 | 2415.98122989637 | 2010.16260637292 | 45297.4861781751 |
| Education | 522.807158064877 | 213.20526797593 | 41937.3596971395 | 463.96618951331 | 216.729942609187 | 43372.6607060906 |
| Health & Social | 1597.84394426258 | 1243.73014245681 | 33471.1916292182 | 1601.82970454585 | 1340.25061323499 | 34334.687263672 |
| Arts & Entertainment | 1016.19061394573 | 408.975094019014 | 23141.002145017 | 1066.22293008528 | 429.01901398136 | 23883.1202013719 |
| All Sectors | 2011.18577657971 | 1014.68763547482 | 34610.7669481818 | 2207.13421929577 | 1049.19952735396 | 35615.0339741911 |
Average annual total earnings were €38,871 in 2018, up from €37,637 in 2017. This comprised of €35,615 regular earnings (91.6%), €2,207 irregular earnings (5.7%) and €1,049 overtime earnings (2.7%).
Average annual total earnings vary widely across the economy with the highest averages in Information and communication at €61,269 and Financial, insurance and real estate at €58,578. In 2018, the Financial, insurance and real estate sector had the highest average regular earnings of €52,585 while the Information and communication sector had the highest average irregular earnings of €9,007.
The Industry sector recorded the highest average annual overtime earnings of €2,440 in 2018. The Accommodation and food services sector had average annual total earnings of €18,262, the lowest of the sectors. This comprised of €17,571 regular earnings, €197 overtime earnings and €493 irregular earnings.
Average annual total earnings rose in all 13 economic sectors between 2017 and 2018. The largest percentage increase was 7.9% in the Information and communication sector where average annual earnings rose from €56,758 to €61,269. Average annual earnings in the Construction sector rose by 5.7%, rising from €38,391 to €40,561. The smallest increase was in the Public administration and defence sector (+1.7%) where average annual earnings rose from €48,907 to €49,724 between 2017 and 2018.
Interactive table: StatBank link
Link to release: Earnings and Labour Costs
| Proportion of Total Annual Labour Costs 2018 (%) | |
| € 56,431 millionFull-time Regular Earnings | 68.2 |
| € 8,638 millionPart-time Regular Earnings | 10.4 |
| € 456 millionApprentice Earnings | 0.6 |
| € 1,930 millionOvertime Earnings | 2.3 |
| € 4,061 millionIrregular Earnings | 4.9 |
| € 11,201 millionOther Labour Costs | 13.5 |
Total annual labour costs in 2018 were €82.7 billion. Full-time employee regular earnings comprised €56.4 billion (or 68.2% of total labour costs) while part-time employee regular earnings were €8.6 billion (10.4% of the total). The other main components were €11.2 billion (13.5%) other labour costs, €4.1 billion (4.9%) irregular earnings, €1.9 billion (2.3%) overtime earnings and €0.5 billion (0.6%) apprentice/trainee earnings. See figure and table 19.3 above.
Interactive table: StatBank link
Link to release: Earnings and Labour Costs
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